As you can see from the number of titles on this list, love stories are some of my favorites! My daughter also loves them and she has added some of her favorite titles as well. Another plus – many of the books listed below have been made into movies or tv shows. Let me know what you recommend.
Red, White & Royal Blue looks like a super fun read and is going to be made into a movie! “When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius–his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with an actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through?” (BPL) Bonus: there’s a Spanish and a Portuguese edition
One of my favorite books a few years back was Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. “Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Eleanor — Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough — Eleanor. Park — He knows she’ll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There’s a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises — Park. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds — smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.” (BPL) Bonus: There are Spanish, French and Vietnamese editions!
One graphic novel recommended by my daughter (Be, age 21) is Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge. “When Paige Turner and her family move to New York City from rural Virginia, she tries to make sense of her new life through her sketchbook, and it helps bring her true personality into the open, a process that is equal parts terrifying and rewarding.” Bonus: Be says this book is appropriate for even very young readers.
If you are looking for a book series with a tv show to go along with it, look no further than Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty. “Belly has an unforgettable summer in this stunning start to the Summer I Turned Pretty series from the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (now a major motion picture!), Jenny Han. Some summers are just destined to be pretty. Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer–they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.” Bonus: I love the show and my daughter loved the books. I have heard that even Lizzo has been chiming in on Instagram about which boy Belly should choose.
My new (timely) summer fave is the graphic novel Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. “Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn’t think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works.”–page 4 of cover. Bonus: Season 2 of the show comes out NEXT WEEK. Plus there’s a Spanish edition of all 4 books in the series.
One of my favorite books from the last 10 (or so) years is Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. When I read this, my daughter was reading it too, two chapters ahead of me and I was surprised that she was ready for this content at 11 years old but she was! “When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other’s best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both.” (Boston Public Library) Bonus: Also available in a Spanish edition.
| Speaking of author David Levithan, I was blown away by his 2013 book, Every Day. “Every morning A wakes up in a different person’s body, in a different person’s life, learning over the years to never get too attached, until he wakes up in the body of Justin and falls in love with Justin’s girlfriend Rhiannon.” Bonus: There’s a 2018 movie, a graphic novel and a Spanish version as well. Plus sequels! |
One of the first graphic novels I read and loved was Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) and illustrated by Maira Kalman. “Sixteen-year-old Min Green writes a letter to Ed Slaterton in which she breaks up with him, documenting their relationship and how items in the accompanying box, from bottle caps to a cookbook, foretell the end.” (Boston Public Library) No Bonus other than it’s amazing and an education all in itself.
Library at BINcA 
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