The 10 Best Romance Books for Teens, Ranked
For better or for worse, we all remember the first. Did your high school sweetheart take your breath away? Or was it just awkward backseat fumbling after the Homecoming Dance? If the latter, reimagine your romantic history with these romance books for teens, ranked.
10. Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist
Set in New York City during the heyday of indie rock, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist centers around two teenage protagonists finding love in the time of The Strokes. The action takes place over one magical night in the Big Apple, where a chance encounter between the two star-crossed music lovers sets them on a quest to find the secret show that their mutual favorite band is playing. If you spent your teenage years making playlists for the one you loved, this little piece of 00’s nostalgia is for you.
9. Furia
Set in Argentina, Yamile Saied Méndez’s Furia revolves around the young Camila Hassan and her dreams of becoming a pro soccer player. Her friends and family are… less than supportive. Society tells her that she is supposed to pursue a more traditional, domestic, and downright boring path rather than follow her ambitions. The only person who understands her goals (no pun intended) is fellow soccer player Diego, who encourages her to follow her passion. But what happens when their passions become… each other?
8. Love Radio
Self described teen love doctor Prince Jones believes that he can help anyone land love, at least that’s what he tells his listeners on his radio broadcast centered around relationships. Everyone except for himself. Poor Prince believes that he’ll be forever doomed to listen to other people’s relationship stories… until he meets Dani Ford. Dani is not the mushy gushy type, and decides to give Prince three days to convince her that he’s worth dating. If anyone can do it, the love doctor can.
7. They Both Die At The End
Adam Silvera’s They Both Die At The End takes place in a world where people get a phone informing them of their coming death the day before it happens. For Mateo and Rufus, that day is today. After meeting on an app that connects people who have been informed that the end is nigh, they hatch a plan to live their last day to the fullest. For those of you looking for hope, there is none. They both die at the end, but that’s okay. It’s everything that happens before that that makes this tragic tale beautiful.
6. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before‘s protagonist Lara Jean Covey has a habit of writing love letters to her old flames. The letters are kept in box so secret it would make Patrick Star jealous, but one day the letters are mysteriously mailed out. One of the recipients? Her sister’s ex boyfriend. Code Red. Nightmare Scenario. Or is it? In order to distract Josh from her sister who is now dating someone else, Lara decides to enter a fake relationship with her middle school crush. Her crush Peter thinks it’s the perfect opportunity to make his ex jealous… but what happens with the fake pair begin to develop real feelings?
5. When Dimple Met Rishi
When Dimple Met Rishi‘s Dimple Shah had a plan. She’s a high school big brain with plans to go to Stanford and be a web designer. Didn’t know you needed an Ivy League education for web design, but pop off, girl! Dimple’s parents have other plans, namely finding the “Ideal Indian Husband” for their daughter. Meanwhile, Rishi Patel’s parents are anxious for their son to find a wife, and the two pairs of moms and dads conduct an arranged marriage plot for Rishi and Dimple. They’re gonna have to take some time to adjust to one another, but sparks may very well fly.
4. We Deserve Monuments
Avery Anderson, protagonist of Jas Hammonds’ We Deserve Monuments, isn’t having a good time. She’s been forced to move from her home in DC into the Deep South to live with her cantankerous grandmother Mama Letty. Her only relief is her charming next door neighbor Simone Cole and in Jade Oliver, the scion of a prominent family whose mother’s murder is still unsolved. Part murder mystery and part swoon-worthy queer romance? I’ll take twelve.
3. The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries are stuff of legend. Who among us did not have their young psyche shaped by Anne Hathway’s search for a foot lifting kiss and Julie Andrew’s witheringly clever royal one liners? But before the pair made big screen history, The Princess Diaries was a series of epistolary novels centered around the young Mia Thermopolis, new heir to the European kingdom of Genovia. The stories unfold with dreamlike, fairytale quality detailing Mia’s search for love and self-understanding as she grows into the princess she is meant to be. This isn’t real life. This is romance with a capital “R.” A modern day Pride and Prejudice for young readers. Late to reading it? Just remember Queen Clarisse’s words “a queen is never late, everyone else is simply early.”
2. All My Rage
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir is a doozy of a romance. The story follows Noor and Salahudin, two Pakistani American high school students who have been best friends since childhood. They’ve stood by each other’s side through thick and thin, and there has been a lot of thin. Sal’s mother is terminally ill and his father has turned to alcohol in grief, and Noor is forced to live with an abusive uncle. Everything changed on the day that Noor confessed her love for Sal… and Sal didn’t feel the same. They stopped talking from that day on… until a new tragedy struck that hurled them into each other’s lives once again.
1. The Fault in Our Stars
Ooof. Prepare to ugly cry. John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars is a play on Cassius’ line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar “the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.” The novel centers around two teens who have been diagnosed with cancer, and the romance that blossoms between them. The theme of the book? Fate (i.e. the stars) may have made them ill, but they can decide for themselves whether or not they become underlings to their own illness. The pair choose to make the best of life, what little they have left.
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