New YA Beach Reads

 Summer is right around the corner and it's time to recommend summer beach reads. With my love of the movies, I can't resist recommending Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter.  Liz Buxbaum, whose deceased mother used to be a rom/com screenwriter, is looking for her own happily-ever-after, but finds it in an unexpected love interest. My Epic Spring Break (Up) by Kristen Rockaway (How to Hack a Heartbreak) introduces Ashley Bergen, a coder who has always been focused on academics. When she is rejected for a summer internship by ZigZag, a popular social media platform, she decides to refocus on her social life with unanticipated results. It's Kind of a Cheesy Love Story by Lauren Morrill (Meant to Be) finds Beck Brix, the infamous Pizza Princess who was born on the bathroom floor of Hot n' Crusty Pizza, struggling to escape her notoriety and move on. In Sunkissed by rom/com favorite Kasie West (Lucky in Love), Avery Young is heading off to a summer vacation with her family in an homage to Dirty Dancing. 

Better than the Movies introduces Liz Buxbaum, who loves romantic comedies. After losing her mother, who was a rom/com screenwriter, Liz draws comfort from the soundtracks, the happy endings and the connection she feels to her mom when she watches them.  Her senior year is ripe for rom/com moments, but she finds herself missing her mom more than ever.  When Michael, her childhood crush, moves back to town, she decides going to prom with him with be the perfect happy ending.  She enlists the help of her arch nemesis Wes Bennett, her next-door neighbor, who has driven her crazy since they were kids. He agrees to help her attract Michael, in exchange for her giving him the prize neighborhood parking spot for the rest of senior year.  Like the best rom/coms the story is filled with witty dialogue and there are twists and turn in the path to true love.  Each chapter starts with a quote from a classic rom/com and they are peppered throughout the text, as well. 

In My Epic Spring Break (Up) mathlete Ashley Bergen has always been focused on academics and is sure she is a shoe-in for  a summer internship at ZigZag, a popular social media platform.  When she is rejected, she is devastated and decides to focus on her lack of a social life over spring break.  In addition to competing in a coding hackathon, she is going to pursue her crush, popular Walker Beech. To her surprise he seems to reciprocate her interest, and she finds herself involved in risky behavior and paying the price.  Meanwhile Ashley's lifelong friend Jason, who seems to be a better match, tries to convince her Walker is bad news.  As the hackathon approaches, she finds out the ZigZag team will be judging the contest and the prize will be a summer position in Silicon Valley.  Inviting Jason to join her team, she vacillates between her growing attraction to him while practicing for the competition and trying to please Walker. Making one misguided choice after another, she struggles to find the right path for her romantic, as well as STEM future. The author is a former programmer and has a real sense of a female navigating the IT world.

It's Kind of a Cheesy Love Story focuses on Beck Brix, who is known as the "Pizza Princess" or "Bathroom Baby" after her notorious birth on the bathroom floor of Hot 'N Crusty Pizza.  The restaurant manager has given her free pizza for life and a guaranteed job when she turn sixteen, but she is mortified by the attention she receives from the media and the pizza palace every birthday. When she falls in with the popular crowd, she is determined to shed her infamy, but ends up taking the job and finding her true comfort zone with the pizza crew. Although she has a crush on Mac, a popular football player, she finds herself attracted to Tristan, the moody delivery guy at Hot "N Crusty, and her workmates are obsessed with the same vintage Sci/Fi show that she and her dad love. When disaster strikes the restaurant, her status as Pizza Princess gives her a unique opportunity to help.  Her self-deprecating personality and predictable rom/com disasters, makes this a enjoyable summer romp. 

Kasie West's latest book Sunkissed is an homage to the classic film Dirty Dancing.  Avery Young's family summer vacation finds her at a remote resort in the California woods, where she is trying to recover from her best friend's betrayal in kissing Avery's boyfriend.  Cautious by nature, Avery decides she is going to spend the summer stepping out of her comfort zone.  She agrees to help Brooks, a handsome staff member, write songs for his band and ends up singing with the band when the lead singer is injured.  Of course, campers fraternizing with staff is against the rules, so her outgoing sister, who is a video blogger hoping to do a piece on the band, helps her sneak around to spend time with Brooks.  Although Avery has a great voice, she has stage fright and is reticent to sing with the band at an upcoming competition. Coupled with her parents' disapproval. her growing attraction to Brooks leaves her struggling find herself in this predictable but satisfying YA romance. 

YA Beach Reads: The Rest of the Story, Fame, Fate and the First Kiss, Rayne and Delilah's Midnite Matinee, When Summer Ends

Summer is here and it's time for beach read recommendations.  Several popular authors have new books out, including Sarah Dessen (Once and For All 2017), one of my all-time favorite authors.  Her latest, The Rest of the Story, focuses on a young teen, who finds herself staying with her deceased mother's family, whom she hasn't seen for years, at their low budget lakeside motel. Fame, Fate and the First Kiss by Kasie West (Love, Life and the List) follows Lacey Barnes, an aspiring actress who has just been cast opposite a teen heartthrob in a new zombie film. Rayne and Delilah's Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner (The Serpent King) introduces Josie and Delia who host a public access cable TV show featuring hokey horror movies. Finally, When Summer Ends by Jessica Pennington (Love Songs and Other Lies) explores the relationship between Aiden, a star pitcher who is losing his vision, and Olivia, an aspiring journalist with an absentee mother, as they work together at his family's boat rental business for the summer. 

In The Rest of the Story  anxiety-ridden Emma Saylor Payne is thrown for a loop when she is sent to stay with her dead mother's family on North Lake, while her dad is on his honeymoon with his new wife and her paternal grandmother is on a cruise.  Emma's parents met on North Lake when he was teaching sailing lessons at Lake North, the ritzy side of the lake.  Her mother, who grew up on the working-class side of the lake at her family's low budget motel, was a beautiful, but troubled woman.  She had never gotten over the accidental death of her best friend Chris, and after years of struggle with addiction, died of an overdose. Emma, who is called Saylor by her mother's family, finds herself enjoying working at the motel and flirting with Roo, Chris's son who was her childhood friend. As she gets to know her cousins, she realizes that the class conflict between the kids on the two sides of the lake hasn't changed much since her parents were there.  Learning about her mother's wild teenage years and the time she herself spent at the lake before her mother died, Emma enjoys a summer of self-discovery, uncovering family secrets and experiencing first love.  This terrific addition to Dessen's repertoire of books exploring social class, family relationships and budding romance is a must read this summer.
Fame, Fate and the First Kiss introduces Lacey Barnes, who gets a shot at stardom, when she is chosen to co-star with action-hero Grant James in a zombie movie. Grant, whose last film received vicious reviews, is looking to redeem his reputation with a solid hit.  Lacey moves to LA to live with her dad, who is not as supportive of her career as she would like.  He hires Donavan Lake, a straight-laced judgmental peer tutor, to make sure she is doing her homework.  Meanwhile, her onscreen chemistry with Grant is lackluster. (Could it be all the zombie makeup she has to wear?) and someone on the set seems to be sabotaging her on social media.  When she tries to figure out who it is, she turns to Donavan for help finding the saboteur.  Her female co-star Amanda, who is coaching her on kissing techniques, tells her to imagine kissing someone she likes when shooting scenes with Grant, and much to her dismay Lacey finds herself thinking about Donavan. Excerpts from the Dancing Graves movie script are peppered throughout the story to give the reader insight into the film.  This fun romantic comedy, filled with West's trademark witty repartee between Lacey and Donavan, is sure to be a hit with fans of wholesome teen romance. 
Josie (Rayne) and Delia (Delilah) are the hosts of Rayne and Delilah's Midnite Matinee, a public access cable TV show in Jackson, Tennessee, which features hokey horror movies, interspersed with the girls' humorous banter and silly skits. Josie, who hopes to pursue a career in television, has an opportunity to take an internship with the Food Network, but struggles with her feelings of loyalty to Delia. Delia is passionate about resurrecting the old horror movies she watched with her absentee father as a kid.  She secretly hopes he will someday see the show and reconnect with her.  When Lawson, a young MMA fighter, guest stars with his beagle on the show, Josie finds herself falling for him.  The three head to Orlando for the ShiverCon festival, where they plan to meet with legendary horror host Jack Devine, who might help them gain a wider audience. Delia also hopes to find her father, who is supposedly in Orlando.  Written from alternating perspectives, the novel paints a picture of two colorful characters, whose witty banter and heartfelt angst about the future makes them an unforgettable pair.
Told from dual first-person perspectives, When Summer Ends follows the lives of high school star pitcher Aiden, who is secretly dealing with a vision impairment, and aspiring journalist Olivia, who did not get the summer newspaper internship she was hoping for and is nursing her first heartbreak.  Securing a job at his family vacation boat rental store on Lake Michigan, Olivia begins to heal as she and Aiden work side by side and begin an innocent flirtation.  Then her absentee mother arrives in town, just as her custodial aunt tells her they are moving to Arizona for her senior year.  Aiden, who quit the baseball team at the end of their junior year without any explanation, confides in Olivia that he is losing his vision, which puts an end to his pitching aspirations. He now is focusing on his passion for art, but his high school teammates, including Olivia's ex, who are unaware of his diagnosis, won't stop pestering him about rejoining the team.  Olivia and Aiden decide to live summer by chance, using coin flips and rock, paper, scissors to make important decisions. They begin to fall in love as they each explore new possibilities, including a life together.  These two sympathetic characters will keep readers engaged and rooting for them until the very last page. 

Romantic YA Reads for Summer's End: Suffer Love, Tell Me Three Things and P.S. I Like You

If teens are looking for a quick romantic read before required reading for school begins, or just an escape between loftier reads, I can recommend three new books that are a cut above.  Suffer Love by Ashley Herring Blake involves two teens, struggling with family problems, who meet when paired on a Shakespeare class project. Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum focuses on Jessie, a girl who is still grieving her mother's death and has to move from Chicago to L.A. when her father remarries.  She gets a little help in navigating the ins and outs of her new life from a secret email friend identifying himself as Somebody/Nobody.  In  P.S. I Like You by Kasie West, aspiring songwriter Lily also begins a secret correspondence that fuels her creativity when she finds a response to graffiti she doodled on her desk in chemistry class.

Suffer Love is a tale of star-crossed lovers, Hadley and Sam, who meet in Shakespeare class and find they are both struggling with family problems caused by a parent's infidelity. Hadley's university professor father had a year long affair with one of his students. Unbeknownst to Hadley, her dad's affair was with Sam's mother. Both Sam and Hadley are missing their respective parents who moved out when the affair was discovered, and are also dealing with the depressed parent left behind.   When Sam finds out the truth about the affair, he is afraid to tell Hadley, thinking he'll lose her. Complicating matters is Sam's fragile little sister Olivia, whom Hadley befriends. As they work on their Shakespeare project, the irony of his Shakespearean dilemma is not lost on Sam.  The plot tangles and references to Shakespearean literature make this a smart romance that readers will devour. If teachers wanted to use this in class, they could pair it with reading Much Ado about Nothing.

 Tell Me Three Things opens when Jessie, who is still grieving her mother's death, is abruptly moved from her Chicago home to the mansion of a wealthy LA widow her father met online and married. Suddenly she is trying to adjust to a new home, a stepbrother (Theo) and an elite private high school where she feels like she is swimming with sharks. When she gets an anonymous email from a boy calling himself Somebody/Nobody (SN), offering to be her "virtual spiritual guide" to navigating her new school, she reluctantly accepts his help, while wondering about her secret correspondent's identity. Is it Ethan, the cool but aloof guy in her AP English class who picks her as a study partner?  Is it Liam, the son of the owner of the bookstore where she works? Or is it Theo, who having recently lost his own father, at first treats her like a stranger at school, but slowly warms to her. As the email correspondence evolves into a game of "Tell Me Three Things," Jessie begins to get clues as to SN's identity, and at the same time begins to work through her grief, because SN is dealing with the death of a loved one, too.  The smart funny virtual conversations, filled with literary references, and the suspense as to SN's identity, as well as the sympathetic exploration of teens dealing with death, make this a compelling read that teens will love.

P.S. I Like You similarly involves a secret correspondence that blossoms into love. When aspiring songwriter Lily scribbles some indie music lyrics on her desktop in chemistry class, she is surprised to find a reply the next day. Soon she and the mystery correspondent are communicating in greater depth through notes hidden beneath the desk.  Not only does Lily enjoy getting to know him, his personal revelations seem to fuel her songwriting.  Suddenly she can't wait to get to the class she used to dread.  As she struggles to discover his identity, she crushes on Lucas, a hipster musician, and feuds with Cade, her sworn nemesis, who teases her mercilessly.  After her guitar is destroyed, ruining her chances to enter a songwriting contest, she is devastated.  Then in her role as office aide, she is sent to her pen pal's class with a note for the teacher and is shocked when she discovers his identity. She struggles to reconcile the personality in the notes, with the actual person, She can't seem to make herself stop corresponding with him and begins to realize she needs to make some changes in order to become her "best self."  Although it's fairly obvious who the pen pal is, Lily's road to discovery and reinvention of herself is the real story.  Kasie West (The Fill-In Boyfriend and The Distance Between Us) can be counted on to deliver sympathetic characters, clever dialogue and sweet romance, and in her latest offering she does not disappoint!

Romantic YA Reads for Summer

When it comes to romantic teen reads, Sarah Dessen seems to be a genre in and of herself. So many books are marketed for "fans of Sarah Dessen" or as Sarah Dessen type reads.  Readers can always count on her for sympathetic characters, witty dialogue and  exploration of compelling teen issues.  Well, Sarah Dessen, who has slowed down considerably since becoming a mom,  has published a new book!  This month I will be recommending Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen, as well as other romantic reads that are similar in tone. In  Saint Anything  Sydney, whose older brother has been sent to jail for a drunk driving accident, struggles to deal with the family dysfunction that follows. Adi Alsaid (Let's Get Lost) has just come out with a new novel called Never, Always, Sometimes, which is about Dave and Julia, best friends who take their relationship to the next level.  Kasie West's The Fill-In Boyfriend explores the repercussions when high school senior Gia is dumped by her college boyfriend in the parking lot at prom and randomly asks a stranger, who witnesses her humiliation, to pose as her date. Lara Avery's A Million Miles Away focuses on identical twin Kelsey, whose sister Michelle dies in a car accident.  When Kelsey tries to break the news to Michelle's boyfriend in Afghanistan, he mistakes her for Michelle and she can't bring herself to tell him the truth.

Saint Anything introduces 16-year-old Sydney whose brother Peyton has always been the focus of the family's attention and has everything going for him; however, he seems bent on self-destruction. Finally, after injuring another teen in a drunk driving accident, Peyton lands in jail.  Sydney, who has always lived in his shadow at the private school they attend, decides to transfer to public school for a fresh start. After her first day at the new school, she stops by a pizza parlor where she meets fellow students Layla and Mac, whose father owns the shop.  Layla immediately sweeps Sydney into her world and Mac becomes Sydney's secret crush.  In their mother, she discovers a person she can talk to who will listen, unlike her own mother whose entire focus is on Peyton and his incarceration. Sydney's family is a dysfunctional mess, with her mom constantly meddling in Peyton's life and her father immersing himself in work.  Layla and Mac's family also has its problems, with their sister struggling with drug problems and their mother battling MS, but instead of being torn apart, their family has drawn closer.  The contrast between the two families and Sydney's problems with unwanted attention from one of Peyton's friends add tension to the story.  Although Sydney becomes romantically involved with Mac, her friendship with Layla is really the heart of the narrative. Dessen fans will not be disappointed.

Never, Always, Sometimes is a refreshing new offering from the author of Let's Get Lost, which was one of my favorite reads last year.  As freshmen, best friends Dave and Julia agreed to avoid high school cliches and made a "Never" list, including #10 Never date your best friend.  But as "senioritis" hits, they decide to break ALL the rules.  Little does Julia know that Dave has been in love with her since freshman year and is filled with trepidation about #10.  To complicate matters Dave has just starting seeing sporty, popular Gretchen, whom he really likes, and artistic impetuous Julia seems to be jealous. As they break one rule after another, Dave and Julia begin to realize that by skipping the cliches they were missing out on a lot of the fun of high school.  Their banter-filled relationship contains many poignant moments, keeping readers in suspense as to whether romantic love will blossom between the two.

The Fill-In Boyfriend takes the familiar tale of a shallow girl who finds depth through adversity and creates a sweet romantic read filled with witty dialogue and cringe worthy humor.  Gia Montgomery is a self absorbed high school senior who is constantly seeking social media approval.  She arrives at prom with Bradley, the college boyfriend she has been bragging about, but her friends have never met.  Disgusted by her superficial worries about showing him off, he breaks up with her in the prom parking lot.  This is witnessed by Hayden, whom Gia quickly enlists as a "fill-in Bradley." Hayden performs admirably and then disappears.  But Gia finds herself fantasizing about a real relationship with him.  Luckily, his sister Bec, a new student in Gia's history class, asks her to return the favor and pose as Hayden's new girlfriend to make his ex jealous.  Predictably, Gia and Hayden feel a mutual attraction, but trouble ensues when the truth comes out. Although Gia is at first annoyingly self-centered, her journey to self-discovery through her relationship with Hayden and his family is an enjoyable ride.

A Million Miles Away explores the topic of dealing with a sibling's death through a compellingly unique story.  Twin sisters Kelsey and Michelle look identical, but their personalities are polar opposites.  Kelsey is the dance team captain with a steady boyfriend and Michelle is a free-spirited artist with a steady stream of flings, the latest being Peter, a soldier recently deployed to Afghanistan. When Michelle dies in a car accident, Kelsey tries to tell Peter about her death; but when she skypes with him, he mistakes her for Michelle and tells her getting back to her is what he is living for. Kelsey can't bring herself to tell him the truth.  As she continues the subterfuge, she finds comfort in impersonating Michelle and begins falling for Peter.  Wondering what will happen when Peter finds out the truth will keep readers turning the pages.