5 YA Contemporary Romances for Your Summer

If you're like me, once summer hits with it's hot temps, pool days, sticky ice-cream, and late night sunsets, you're craving a good ol' YA contemporary to devour while you sit by the A/C. But if you're also like me, you're picky about the ones you read. Finding contemporary romances that I enjoy is hard for me. I get bored by the modern setting, insta-love is hard for me to believe, and stories set in high schools aren’t really my thing. But there are exceptions and I am slowly finding some books that I love in this genre!

So here are 5 YA contemporary romances for your summer TBR!

1. A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews

The Maestro’s son hates the music he is forced to play and the piano he is forced to play on. He hates how he can never be what she wants and how he cowers when she hits him. But when the girl down the street dares to see the best in him, he is tempted to dream of playing his own music... and risking his mother’s wrath. This is a book full of heartache and emotions and broken families. But it is also full of glitter and music and vegan chocolate cake. Although not poetry, this story is written with flowing emotion and heartfelt prose.  

2. The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon

A girl who doesn’t believe in fate, her family just 12 hours from deportation to Jamaica. A boy who finally dares to dream beyond what his parents want for him. A universe weaving so many lives and choices together to lead them to each other. This is a poetic and beautiful story full of different perspectives, Jamaican and South Korean cultures, and family history (also karaoke bars)!

3. 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons

A blind girl, a boy with no legs, and 100 days to bring back the sunlight into their lives. This book has a lot waffles, poetry, optimism, flowers, and the color yellow. Basically the most Hufflepuff book I have ever read!  

4. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

The anonymous creator of a wildly popular webcomic meets the top fan fiction writer of her stories and her world becomes way more amazing than she dreamed... and a whole lot more complicated. If you have been waiting for a story about fan fiction, online friends, and mental illnesses, this ones for you. Plus, throughout the book there is a smattering of art sketches and comic frames from Eliza’s comic, Monstrous Sea.

5. Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Cinderella meets Comic Con in this fandom fairytale. This super fun and light-hearted retelling stays unique in it’s own story but true to the original tale with a cosplay contest and ball, a vegan pumpkin food truck, and a certain teen actor playing the prince of the most popular fandom: Starfield. 

Have you read any of these books? Planning on adding any to your TBR? Let me know what your favorite contemporaries are!

Until next time!

~ K.J. Haakenson