There is a specific book I usually turn to when the days get long and hot: Romance. Not the edgy, literary “love stories”, no: I want the fluffy, meet-cute, love at first sight, romcom-trope-filled books. An absolute bonus, for me, is first love, which means a lot of YA books. Thankfully, we have those in abundance here at the Cybils. Maybe it’s what tickles your fancy this long summer holiday weekend too.
A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow
by Laura Taylor Namey
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
2021 Young Adult Fiction Finalist
You Should See Me in a Crown
by Leah Johnson
Scholastic Press
2020 Young Adult Fiction Finalist
Pride
by Ibi Zoboi
Balzer + Bray
2018 Young Adult Fiction Finalist
Beast
by Brie Spangler
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
2016 Young Adult Fiction Finalist
Anna and the French Kiss
by Stephanie Perkins
Balzer + Bray
2011 Young Adult Fiction Finalist
Once Upon a Quinceañera
by Monica Gomez-Hira
HarperTeen
2021 Young Adult Fiction Nominee
Rent a Boyfriend
by Gloria Chao
Simon & Schuster
2021 Young Adult Fiction Nominee
Love & Olives
by Jenna Evans Welch
Simon Pulse
2021 Young Adult Fiction Nominee
The Falling in Love Montage
by Ciara Smyth
HarperTeen
2020 Young Adult Fiction Nominee
How Not to Ask a Boy to Prom
by S. J. Goslee
Roaring Brook Press
2019 Young Adult Fiction Nominee
There’s Something about Sweetie
by Sandhya Menon
Simon Pulse
2019 Young Adult Fiction Nominee