Young adult Romances

Young adult romances are my favourite for one reason, each page of these books instill warmth in my heart. This selection of young adult romance books features an array of diverse characters and various ethnicities. Here is a list of young adult romances that I personally would recommend.

PS: click on the book name for the link

1. The Poet X

This bestselling novel centers on a Dominican American Xiomara, a girl with a sense of responsibility, growing up in Harlem with her highly religious immigrant family. Her mom is overbearing in impressing Catholicism on Xio and her twin brother. In an effort to understand her mother’s religion and culture and how she fits into the world she pours her soul onto paper in the form of slam poetry. However, she feels unheard and unable to camouflage in the Harlem neighbourhood. So as she started growing up, she has let her actions and fierceness do the talking in an attempt to stand out! She transfers all her frustration, anger and passion onto the pages of a vintage leather notebook. This was a reminder to her about how she felt. She starts liking a boy in her biology class named Aman, but because she is from a conservative family, her family can NEVER know about this! Because of this and her mothers continuous pressure to practice and preach the laws of her church, she quickly realizes that her thoughts are best kept to herself. One fine day, she is invited to join her school's slam poetry club but she dwells on the fact of the matter that she can't do this without her mother finding out and the thought of her thoughts being released into the world scares her. But she is determined to perform her emotional poems because as a independent and courageous woman like Xiomara she refuses to be silent in a world which constantly suppresses her thoughts.

2. Words in Deep Blue

Words in Deep Blue is mainly about connections and missed connections. Every character is desperately looking for something like love, a lost book, a second chance etc. It's also a tribute to the power of words. The novel's plot is complex but when you understand it, it leaves you speechless. Two families face a newly uncertain future for which they are completely unprepared. Henry ,his sister, George, and their parents have owned and occupied a typical cozy bookshop called Howling Books in Grace town, Australia. After 20 years, the parents have sadly split up and their mom wants to sell the shop. During this period Henry is in love with a girl who has just broken up with him for the ninth time. George, after losing contact with a mystery pen pal, has simply stopped believing in love. Three years earlier, Henry's best friend, Rachel, her brother, Cal, and their mother moved to the coast from Grace town to help care for their grandmother. Ten months ago Cal accidentally drowned. Rachel has failed her senior year and decided to leave the ocean and move back to Grace town. But she doesn't have the stomach to tell her old friends about Cal's death. Meanwhile, although she's tried to squelch it for years, her secret love for Henry is reawakening during the time she works at the bookstore alongside him. It doesn't help that Howling Books is a romantic place (obviously). A unique thing about the shop is the Letter Library, in which customers can highlight words, write in the margins of their favorite books etc. Some people even leave entire letters between the pages of the books. Alternating between Rachel and Henry's voices, with flashbacks and found letters placed between chapters, the novel demystifies the intrigue and tragic loves in the lives of the characters. This story is not a love triangle but a love trapezoid!

3. Five Feet Apart

Five Feet Apart features two teenage main characters, Stella and Will who are both patients in the hospital suffering from Cystic Fibrosis and they fall in love. Stella Grant has been in and out of hospitals her whole life. She was born with Cystic Fibrosis and her best option for a healthy life is a lung transplant. Stella is very strict about her treatment and responsible about keeping the six feet apart rule with all the other Cystic Fibrosis patients in the hospital. Will Newman is one of the patients in that hospital. But unfortunately he has contracted B Cepacia, an infection which took him off the transplant list. He is annoyed by hospitals and medication. Stella needs to stay away from him but she does the opposite. She is strangely attracted to him. Will makes Stella embrace life and encourages her to enjoy the small things in life. Unfortunately Stella Grant is back in the hospital after a fever that would not go away and Will is scheduled for a drug trial, desperately hoping to eliminate the B Cepacia. Stella has every minute of her day meticulously planned, she has lists. Will can not wait to turn eighteen to finally see the world from a different perspective. Stella’s greatest wish is for a new pair of lungs up until she meets Will. He is very dangerous to Stella as contact with him can get her off the transplant list. There must be a distance of 6 feet between them at all times. That, however, does not unerve them and their feelings bloom. It is a tender and heart-felt story filled through roughly with emotion. The romance is sudden but it makes sense and their interactions felt real like they had actually fallen deep in love. This story is one that you can’t help but to fall in love with the dynamic of the characters. The story is told in alternating perspectives between Stella and Will and I enjoyed both the narratives.

Pick your pick and let us know what you felt about that book, we would be more than glad to hear from you! We post every Sunday, see you soon! Ciao :)