Top 5 summer reads for Young Adults
by Sophie Green
Looking for some gripping, heart-warming stories to keep you entertained this summer? Take a look at our top picks for Young Adult fiction!
Felix ever after, by Kacen Callender
Felix Love has never been in love - and, yes, he's painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it's like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What's worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he's one marginalisation too many - black, queer and transgender - to ever get his own happily-ever-after. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages - after publicly posting Felix's deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned - Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn't count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi-love triangle!
This is my truth, by Yasmin Rahman
Best friends Amani and Huda are getting nervous about their GCSEs - and their future beyond school, which they're both wildly unprepared for. Shy, quiet Amani has an outwardly picture-perfect family - a father who is a successful TV presenter, a loving mother, and an adorable younger brother - while confident and impulsive Huda has grown up with over-affectionate foster parents who are now expecting a baby of their own. Both girls are jealous of each other's seemingly easy life, without realising the darkness or worries that lie underneath. Then Huda witnesses Amani's father hitting her mother, and Amani's biggest secret is suddenly out. As Amani convinces Huda to keep quiet by helping her with her own problems, a prank blog starts up at school, revealing students' secrets one by one. Will this anonymous blogger get hold of Amani's secret too? Will Huda keep quiet?
You're the one that I want, by Simon James Green
Freddie is unremarkable - too unremarkable. He doesn't stand out in any way, and in fact teachers and fellow students keep forgetting who he is. Even his mum thinks he's a disappointment, and spends almost all her time at work, producing a TV show. After a particularly awful night when he embarrasses himself in front of Jasper Perry (the gorgeous teen star of his mum's new show), Freddie decides to follow a new, proactive philosophy designed to transform his social and romantic life: saying 'yes' to every opportunity. It works! Freddie finds himself auditioning for the school musical (Grease), actually going to parties, and flirting with hot new boy Zach! He's becoming a whole new Freddie - maybe even one that his mum might be proud of. But the path to love is never smooth, and sometimes getting things very wrong is an important part of figuring out what - and who - you really want.
Things to do before the end of the world, by Emily Barr
What would you do when you hear the news that humans have done such damage to the earth that there might only be a limited amount of safe air left - a year's worth at most? You'd work through your bucket list, heal rifts, do everything you've never been brave enough to do before? Olivia is struggling to do any of this. What is it she truly wants to do? Who does she want to be?
Bookishly ever after, by Lucy Powrie
Ed is excited. He's finally landed his dream job as a bookseller at Woolf and Wilde, the beautiful independent bookshop in town. But Ed soon discovers that working life in the bookshop is very different to being a customer - the hours of shelving books, logging ISBNs and dealing with customers is overwhelming. So Ed does what Ed does best - smiles enthusiastically, fist pumps the air, and pretends that everything is totally under control. He just hadn't bargained on his new colleague, Hannah, seeing through his façade. Then Ed discovers that his mum is dating for the first time since splitting up with his dad. He decides to distract himself by being the best bookseller Woolf and Wilde has ever seen, but now Ed's confusing feelings for Hannah are getting in the way.