I’ll Pretend You’re Mine by Tashie Bhuiyan

 

“Summer Ali has been making a name for herself in the music industry for years, slowly but surely climbing the charts—but the world doesn’t know her stage parents are the ones who molded her entire public persona. Finally eighteen, Summer breaks free of their control and focuses on creating her own path.

Upon running into writer’s block, Summer grows eager to take any opportunity to shake things up—even if it means agreeing to a PR stunt with child-actor-turned-playboy, Jules Moradi, famous for his tabloid escapades.

At first, Jules keeps his distance, maintaining professional boundaries. But as time passes, his walls come down, and Summer uncovers who he is beyond his reputation, and it’s someone more like her than she ever realized. As the lines blur between fake and real, Summer begins questioning who she is and what she wants—and if her dreams are worth sacrificing her heart.” - taken from Goodreads.

Tashie Bhuiyan has quickly become one of my go to authors for romance. Summer Ali has just turned eighteen and has taken control of her musical career from her domineering parents. On her own for the first time, she must navigate being a celebrity solo. When her manager suggests she “fake date” a bad boy actor for some publicity, she is in for a situation she never expected.

Bhuiyan knocks it out of the ballpark every time with her stories of romance and struggling to get out from underneath controlling parents.

Visit Tashie Bhuiyan’s website.

Fangirl, Vol. 4: The Manga by Rainbow Rowell

 

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first three volumes in the series, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can’t let go…

Cath and Levi are officially dating—finally!—but Cath still has a lot on her plate as the end of freshman year approaches. She only has a few more weeks to save her grade in Fiction Writing, her twin sister, Wren, is acting increasingly reckless, and an unexpected reunion with her mother has thrown everything off-balance. Plus, with the release date for the last Simon Snow novel looming, Cath is struggling to focus on anything except finishing her epic fanfiction—including her relationship with Levi.

In this final volume of Fangirl , Cath must decide whether finding her own path forward means walking away from Simon Snow for good.” - taken from Goodreads.

This volume finishes up the manga version of the book Fangirl. I will say that this is an incredible graphic rendition of the book. Well worth the read!

Twelfth Night by Alexene Farol Follmuth

 

“Viola Reyes is annoyed.

Her painstakingly crafted tabletop game campaign was shot down, her best friend is suggesting she try being more “likable,” and school running back Jack Orsino is the most lackadaisical Student Body President she’s ever seen, which makes her job as VP that much harder. Vi’s favorite escape from the world is the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, but online spaces aren’t exactly kind to girls like her―girls who are extremely competent and have the swagger to prove it. So Vi creates a masculine alter ego, choosing to play as a knight named Cesario to create a safe haven for herself.

But when a football injury leads Jack Orsino to the world of Twelfth Knight, Vi is alarmed to discover their online alter egos―Cesario and Duke Orsino―are surprisingly well-matched.

As the long nights of game-play turn into discussions about life and love, Vi and Jack soon realize they’ve become more than just weapon-wielding characters in an online game. But Vi has been concealing her true identity from Jack, and Jack might just be falling for her offline…” - taken from Goodreads.

Inspired by the Shakespeare play of the same name. Viola plays an online game where she poses as a boy to keep the harassment at bay. When Duke Orsino, the star quarterback, is sidelined with an injury, he spends his newfound time playing the same game as Viola. As the two grow closer online and in real life, what happens when Duke realizes that he's been duped by Viola?

Visit Alexene Farol Follmuth’s website.

Fangirl, Vol. 3: The Manga by Rainbow Rowell

 

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first two volumes in the series, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can’t let go…

Everything in Cath’s offline life is going wrong. Just when she’s started to realize her feelings for Levi, she sees him kissing someone else. Plus, her writing partner, Nick, is acting strange, and her twin sister, Wren, is suddenly making time for their mother—the same woman who walked out of their lives ten years ago!

When their dad ends up in the hospital, Cath decides it’s time to rethink her plans for the future.

But how can she leave the past behind when it keeps showing up at her door?” - taken from Goodreads.

And of course, volume 3 ends on another major cliffhanger. Good news is that volume 4 will conclude the story.

The story will be finished with volume 4 due out in 2024.

Private Label by Kelly Yang

 

“Serene dreams of making couture dresses even more stunning than her mom’s, but for now she’s an intern at her mom’s fashion label. When her mom receives a sudden diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, all that changes. Serene has to take over her mother’s business overnight, dealing with ruthless investors who do not think a seventeen-year-old can run a fashion empire, while trying to figure out what happened with her dad in Beijing. He left before she was born, and Serene wants to find him, even if it means going against her mom’s one request—never look back.

Lian Chen moved from China to Serene’s mostly white Southern California beach town a year ago. He doesn’t fit in at school, where kids mispronounce his name. His parents don’t care about what he wants to do—comedy—and push him toward going to MIT engineering early. Lian thinks there’s nothing to stick around for, until one day, he starts Chinese Club after school . . . and Serene walks in.

Worlds apart in the high school hierarchy, Serene and Lian soon find refuge in each other, falling in love as they navigate life-changing storms.” - taken from Goodreads.

This was a quick read about two Chinese American teenagers who are on opposite ends of the high school hierarchy that soon find themselves being there for one another when Serene desires to learn more about her heritage as they help one another navigate what it means to be themselves in a world where they are seen as different.

Visit Kelly Yang’s website.

Fangirl, Vol. 2:The Manga by Sam Maggs

 

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first volume in the series, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“Cath just wants to hang out with her twin sister and write fanfiction. But now that they’re at college, her sister doesn’t have time for her. And life keeps pulling Cath further and further out of her shell. For the first time ever, Cath has her own social circle. There’s Nick, her handsome classmate who wants her to write short stories with him… And then Levi, who keeps showing up when she isn’t looking for him … Actually … maybe Cath’s circle is more of a triangle?” - taken from Goodreads.

So I discovered at the cliffhanger ending of volume 2 that readers are being treated to four volumes in total. Now to wait.

To be continued with volume 3 due out on August 8, 2023.

From Little Tokyo, With Love by Sarah Kuhn

 

“If Rika's life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale--being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts' business--she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn't quite fit the princess mold.

All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America's reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of hope and happiness--searching for clues that Grace is her long-lost mother, exploring Little Tokyo's hidden treasures with cute actor Hank Chen, and maybe...finally finding a sense of belonging.

But fairy tales are fiction and the real world isn't so kind. Rika knows she's setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don't happen to girls like her. Should she walk away before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away?” - taken from Goodreads.com

Rika feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere. Orphaned at birth, she lives with her doting aunts and cousins. Biracial, she is often made to feel out of place in her Japanese American community. When she bumps into a famous movie store at a parade, Rika’s life is turned upside down when she realizes that her mother may be alive after all. With the help of the handsome Henry Chen who just so happens to be filming a movie with her supposed mother, the two go on a quest to uncover the truth. Rika must confront not only her own insecurities but fight against a racist bully and society's preconceived notions in order to uncover her own happily ever after.

Visit Sarah Kuhn’s website.

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury (Blood Like Magic book 1)

 

“After years of waiting for her Calling—a trial every witch must pass in order to come into their powers—the one thing Voya Thomas didn’t expect was to fail. When Voya’s ancestor gives her an unprecedented second chance to complete her Calling, she agrees—and then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic.

Voya is determined to save her family’s magic no matter the cost. The problem is, Voya has never been in love, so for her to succeed, she’ll first have to find the perfect guy—and fast. Fortunately, a genetic matchmaking program has just hit the market. Her plan is to join the program, fall in love, and complete her task before the deadline. What she doesn’t count on is being paired with the infuriating Luc—how can she fall in love with a guy who seemingly wants nothing to do with her?

With mounting pressure from her family, Voya is caught between her morality and her duty to her bloodline. If she wants to save their heritage and Luc, she’ll have to find something her ancestor wants more than blood. And in witchcraft, blood is everything.” - taken from Goodreads.com

This was a unique dark story about one girl’s path during her coming-of-age ritual to gain her family’s witch powers. When she fails at her first attempt and begs for a second chance, Voya Thomas is given the task of destroying her first love within the next 30 days. Easy right? Not even when Voya has yet to meet her first love. What begins as a quest to make her recent genetic match fall in love with her soon opens the tightly locked vault of family secrets that the adults tried to keep buried. A thrilling and unexpected ending that sets up a new story arc for the next book in the series.

The story will continue with book two, expected sometime in 2022.

Visit Liselle Sambury’s website.

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

The graduation/welcome home party for Josh Mitchell doesn’t go as planned for Skylar Evans. The two worked together at the Paradise Hotel before Josh joined the Marines and shipped out to Afghanistan. Skylar briefly dated his younger brother Blake during his deployment. Not much happens in the blink and you might miss it town of Creek View, located just off of California’s Highway 99. In fact, at the end of summer, she will start at San Francisco State and leave Creek View behind. Looking everywhere for Josh to welcome him home, she hears him before she sees him. When Skylar turns around, she is stunned to see his gaunt face and lifeless eyes. It is only when he takes a step towards her for a hug does she notice that Josh has lost his left leg, courtesy of the Taliban. After Josh moves on to a new group of friends, Skylar questions Blake on the situation. Josh made their mother promise not to tell anyone. Leaving the party, Skylar recalls the last words Josh said to her before his deployment. “This is as good as it gets for me.”

The first week that Josh is back home, Skylar only runs into him once. She went to pick up her friend Dylan at the diner after she had finished her shift. While waiting, Skylar sees Josh sitting alone at a table, staring out the window, his food untouched. She  recalls how popular Josh was before joining the Marines. Knowing that it is only proper, Skylar walks over to say hello.The first thing Josh says to her is how good she looks. She jokes that he would hit on Marge, the hotel owner, given the chance. Nope, not going there but he is coming back to work as the handyman until he figures out what to do with his life. While driving Dylan to the nearest Walmart, Skylar finds that she cannot keep her mind off of Josh. Dylan says that she is wonders what he would be like under the sheets.

When Skylar gets home, she is surprised to find their trailer door unlocked. She and her mother are adamant about locking it. Her mother should be working at Taco Bell. Carefully opening the door, she hears her mother coughing from the bedroom. Skylar finds her sitting on the bed and just thinks she is having a bad day. Skylar is floored when her mother tells her that she has lost her job and breaks down. Skylar is so close to leaving Creek View behind and her worst fears have come true. She cannot leave her mother alone.

Skylar’s life soon spins out of control. Her mother begins drinking again and refuses to look for a job. And to Skylar’s horror, her mother starts having a guy over. Working at the hotel, Skylar begins to see Josh every day. She no longer sees the wounded warrior or the carefree boy before he joined the Marines. War has changed Josh. His life now revolves around physical and group therapy at the VA and trying to decide whether to stay on the Marines or take an honorable discharge. The two start to spend more time together and Josh becomes the one bright spot in Skylar’s life while everything else comes crashing down around her. Skylar finds herself falling for Josh, but when he starts running away from close encounters, she wonders if she has read Josh’s signals wrong.

Will Skylar be able to leave Creek View behind? Does she get to go to college? Can she help her mother turn her life around? Is Skylar getting the wrong message from Josh? What horrors and loss did Josh suffer in Afghanistan that haunt him? Can Skylar help Josh move forward?

Visit Heather Demetrios’ website.

Dust Lands Trilogy by Moira Young

Book one - Blood Red Road

“In the Dustlands, you fight or you die.”

Eighteen year old twins Saba and Lugh are complete opposites, right down to their looks. Lugh is fair like their dead mother while she is dark like their father. The three of them liv with their younger sister Emmi live along the shores of Silverlake, or what's left of it. Rain hasn't fallen in a long time and its shoreline has shrunken. Pa believes that he can read the future in the stars but no matter what he ritual he does, the rain doesn't come. Frustrated, Lugh is ready to leave him behind and Saba will follow her twin anywhere. Before they can make any real plans to leave, a terrible dust storm cuts across the lake and heads their way. Lugh and Saba race towards the storm cellar where their father and Emmi await them. Looking for her pet crow, Nero, the twins have to crouch down to keep from being struck by lightning. Saba is thrown off of her feet and Lugh helps her get up. The storm passes and leaves a red haze. Then out of the haze comes five men riding horses.

One of the men is Procter John, their neighbor who briefly visits once a month. They asks him if Lugh was the one born at midwinter and Procter tells them yes and that he has been looking after him like they had asked. The man asks Lugh how old he is and he answers eighteen. The twins know that something is wrong. The man pulls out a bolt shooter and fires at Procter John, striking him dead. Lugh tells Saba to go fetch their Pa but she won't leave him. Go, he yells and heads for the lake while Saba runs to the storm shelter. Pa asks her if they have come and she realizes that he has seen this day in the stars. She runs into the shanty looking for her crossbow and comes out and shakes her Pa. He finally comes to his senses and she sees the old Pa from before her mother died. He tells her that his time is nearly up. He has only been able to see glimpses of the future but that she must stay strong. Lugh, Emmi and others will need her and not to give up. The horsemen have caught up to Lugh and have surrounded him. Saba and Pa take up their crossbows and run to Lugh. They fire and miss while two of the riders have lassoed Lugh. They dismounted and bound his wrists and ankles. Saba and Pa take aim again and another rider turns and fires his bolt shooter. Pa falls and Saba realizes the bolt has gone through his heart. Pa is dead. She runs towards Lugh but her arrows fly wild in her anger. One of the riders fires a bolt that strikes her in her hand. Bound, the riders hoist Lugh onto a horse. Saba screams and begs them to take her as well. Lugh tells her to go back and take care of Emmi. Saba promises Lugh that she will find him as the men ride away with her brother. Emmi runs out of the shelter and takes in the death and destruction left behind. She runs to Pa and Saba falls to the ground. The skies open up and rain finally falls.

Why did the horsemen come after Lugh? What was so special about him being born at midwinter? Will Saba be able to keep her promises to Lugh and Pa? Can she find Lugh? What happens to her and Emmi?

Book two – Rebel Heart

“No one is safe.”

Book three – Raging Star

“Loyalty and betrayal. Lovers and enemies.”

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

"Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun."

Emaline has spent her entire life in Colby, just like her mother. Her family has owned Colby Realty since her grandparents were married fifty years ago. She is the result of a summer romance between her mother and a vacationing boy from the north. He went back home and started college while Emaline's mother had a baby by the time she graduated from high school. Her father and his family initially didn't have anything to do with her. At the age of two, her mother married a young widower with two older daughters of his own and he adopted her. Her father wasn't a part of her life until she contacted him at the age of ten about a family tree project for school. Finally, Emaline had found someone with whom she could talk to about school related things.

Emaline and her boyfriend throughout high school have just graduated. Both of them are going to attend the local university. She has a full scholarship. Her birth father had pushed her for several years to think about attending Ivy League schools. When her acceptance to Columbia comes, she is disappointed when he can no longer pay for her to attend. In Colby, she sees people come and go all summer long putting aside their regular lives to enjoy a vacation and she begins to long for the opportunity to escape her reality. Colby is a small town where people either stay their entire lives or they leave as soon as they can. Everyone expects her to stay in the family business and marry Luke but Emaline dreams some times of leaving the little town for bigger and better things.

When a documentary filmmaker from New York City arrives in Colby for the summer to work on a film, she brings along an intern, Theo. Emaline soon starts to see Theo everywhere she goes and he always goes out of his way to speak to her. Then she gets a phone call from her father that he will be in Colby for the summer to settle his aunt's estate. He wants to meet with her even though she heard nothing from him about her graduation. Her mother is a nervous wreck that Emaline's father will disappoint her daughter like he did her all of those years ago. Soon, both her father and Theo think she is too smart to stay in Colby. Even though she longs for a bright future, Emaline also clings to her loving family and the familiarity of her small town life. All she has ever wanted is the moon and more.

Will Emaline stay in Colby or move away? Why has her father come back to Colby and will he disappoint her again? Will she and Luke stay together? What happens when Theo pulls her into the making of the documentary film? Can Emaline find balance between her life and dreams and achieve the moon and more?

Paper Towns by John Green

"The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle."

For Quinton Jacobsen, his miracle was that he lived next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman in the Jefferson Park subdivision in Orlando, Florida. To Q, "she was the most fantastically gorgeous creature that God had ever created." Living next door to one another since the age of two, Margo and Quinton were childhood best friends. At the age of nine, the two of them found a dead body in the neighborhood park. Margo spent the day investigating why the man committed suicide. She always loved mysteries and to Quinton, Margo was always a mystery.

The longest day of Quinton's life was May 5. School is dwindling down with thoughts of prom, graduation and college on everyone's mind. Even though they continue to live next door to one another, Margo has become an enigma to Quinton. Popular with friends and a steady boyfriend, she rarely talks with him. He is just fine with routine. So when just before midnight, Margo opened Quinton's bedroom window, dressed all in black, his life drastically changes.

Margo needs his car. Technically it is his mom's minivan but Quinton was given a key to it for his sixteenth birthday. And she needs him to drive it. She has eleven things she needs to do that night and for five of them she needs a getaway man. Reluctant at first, Margo reassures him that they won't be committing any felonies. After getting caught by her father and sneaking out again, she meets Quinton in the van and they are off.

After a shopping trip for an assortment of several unusual items when purchased all together at midnight, Margo explains her plan to right some wrongs. It turns out that her boyfriend of several months was cheating on her with her best friend and no one told her. Her plan is to get back at all of those who have wronged her and to make up to the one who was brave enough to break the bad news to her. Quinton and Margo make a whirlwind, late night trip through Orlando getting revenge. At the end of the night, Margo whispers to Quinton, "I. Will. Miss. Hanging. Out. With. You."

Exhausted but quite proud of himself later that day at school, Quinton notices that Margo didn't come to school. That afternoon, he notices her car missing from the driveway next door and her window shade is open. Quinton knows that once again, Margo Roth Spiegelman has disappeared. Forty- eight hours after their night around Orlando, the Spiegelmans and a police detective are at the Jacobsen's house. Since Margo is eighteen, legally an adult and has runaway before, her parents are washing their hands of their daughter. In the past, she has left clues to her whereabouts that are difficult to decipher. Her parents are just going to pretend that she has already left for college. Quinton does tell the detective in private about their night when asked.

After the Spiegelmans and the detective leave, Quinton notices that the detective is searching Margo's room. Her curtain has been lowered and Quinton spots the poster of Woody Guthrie taped to the back that wasn't there before. With the assistance of his two friends, Quinton waits until Margo's parents leave to go next door. They bribe Margo's little sister to let them into her bedroom. Quinton is determined to find out where Margo went.

Why did Margo leave after her night with Quinton? Where did she disappear to? Will she return home? Or will Quinton ever get the answers he is looking for? What impact will having Margo in his life have on Quinton?

Visit John Green’s website.