PASSIONATE ABOUT SCHOOL LIBRARIES
Dancing Barefoot
– Alice Boyle –
Text Publishing
Published 30 August 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
Dancing Barefoot is an utterly delightful YA novel about friendship, love, self discovery and fitting in. Authentic, richly detailed and genuinely just good fun, I loved every page of this novel and can’t wait to add it to my school library shelf.
The First Thing About You
– Chaz Hayden –
Candlewick Press
Published 6 September 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
The First Thing About You is a funny and honest story about friendship, falling in love for the first time and finding your way as you grow up.
Harris and his family have just moved to New Jersey. For Harris, it’s a fresh start. No longer will he only be known as the guy in the wheelchair. It’s his time to break out of the box people put his in when they first see him. First thing on his list is a new aide to join him at school instead of his mother. Miranda is a young nursing student and seems to understand the real Harris. As Harris befriends the geeky Zander and the boys on the football team, he is also drawn to Nory. But friendship and love is hard to get right and Harris must learn to see beyond his own expectations, just as he wants others to do with him.
Crumbs
– Danie Stirling –
Etch/Clarion Books
Published 19 July 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
Another beautiful graphic novel that will delight and entrance readers. Crumbs is the story of a young seer, not sure what she should do with her unique powers, and a barista who dreams of the stage and music. They meet each day in a bakery where each delicious baked good can cast magic. But falling in love and choosing a future might be hard when their dreams each lead them in different directions.
Forging Silver Into Stars
– Brigid Kemmerer –
Forging Silver Into Stars #1
Bloomsbury YA
Published 7 June 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
Forging Silver Into Stars is just the most beautiful fantasy novel, with romance, betrayal, intrigue and wildly swinging emotions. I don’t know how she does it but Brigid Kemmerer’s writing just gets better and better. I don’t know how to put my love for this novel into words, so instead I’ll just go about shoving this book into the hands of readers and demanding they read it.
Forging Silver Into Stars returns readers to the world we first fell in love with in A Curse So Dark and Lonely. While Forging Silver Into Stars introduces us to new characters, never far from the action are Grey, Lia Mara, Rhen and Harper.
Blaine for the Win
– Robbie Couch –
Simon Schuster
Published 12 April 2022
♥♥♥♥
I was looking for something fun and uplifting when I picked up Blaine for the Win. And, having just read Heartstopper books 1 to 4, this was the perfect follow up book.
When Blaine is dumped by his boyfriend rather than receiving the expected invite to the family holiday, he is devastated. Worse is being told the reason is because he isn’t serious enough. Sure, maybe most guys aren’t painting murals or eternally running late, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t serious. To prove his point, Blaine decides to run for student body president, as his ex-boyfriend’s replacement and his ex-boyfriend’s new boyfriend’s opponent (it’s complicated). His two best friends make the best campaign team and he finds an unexpected ally in Daniel, the boy he literally crashes into.
Some Mistakes Were Made
– Kristin Dwyer –
Harper Teen
Published 26 April 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
I knew that Some Mistakes Were Made would be gut wrenching. And it was. It was also incredibly hard to put down, tear-jerking and made my heart ache. In a good way. Such a delicious, agonising way.
For all the readers who love books about brothers, this one is for you. For all the readers who love resilient, angry and strong survivors who have to face so much more than is imaginable, this book is for you. And readers who love tortured, broken relationships romance, you need to read this book RIGHT NOW!
Here’s To Us
– Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera –
Quill Tree Books
Published 28 December 2021
♥♥♥♥♥
Here’s To Us is the long awaited (okay, it’s only been a couple of years, but it feels like forever) sequel to What If It’s Us. If you have read What If It’s Us, then you will know that if you wanted a happily ever after ending it desperately needed a sequel. And finally, finally, we have been gifted with a glorious, funny, delightful sequel. And that happily ever after? Oh yeah, there’s definitely a few of them this time around. A couple weddings, a few proposals, best friends forever – this book just seeps romance, love and heartwarming moments.
Game On: 15 Stories of Wins, Losses, and Everything in Between
– Laura Silverman (ed.) –
Viking Books for Young Readers
Published 18 January 2022
♥♥♥/♥
Game on is a collection of 15 short stories that span a range of genres that all mention, in some way or form, competition.
I was expecting a sports fiction anthology. This is not a collection of sports fiction short stories. Instead, this is a collection of short stories that span a range of genres, from horror and paranormal to realistic and mystery. Actually, there are only a few stories where sport is mentioned at all and only one where it was the focus (admittedly, that was my favourite story, so maybe that tells you something about my reaction to this collection). The rest use games or competition as a backdrop to the main story of racial discrimination, revenge, disappearing people and houses, or going after the guy you love. There are mentions of some board games, but the game theme is actually pretty loose. The first story is about a game of spin the bottle at a party.
Serendipity
– Marissa Meyer (ed.) –
Feiwel Friends
Published 4 January 2022
♥♥♥♥♥
Do you have a favourite romantic trope? If you ask most romance fans, they might have one or two tropes in mind. This book is for those readers. It’s such a great idea and such a great collection of romantic YA short stories, each one written by a well known YA author and each one featuring some of our favourite romantic tropes.
From fake dating to one shared bed, matchmaking to the grand romantic gesture, this collection of short stories has many of your favourite tropes but also a few you may not have thought of.
How Not To Fall In Love
– Jacqueline Firkins –
Clarion Books
Published 21 December 2021
♥♥♥♥
How Not To Fall In Love is a cute, sexy and slightly exasperating (just kiss him already!! or maybe don’t kiss him!!! arghhh!!!) YA romance novel.
Harper knows all about love. Or at least how phoney it is. She has seen enough bridezillas in her mother’s wedding shop to know love is fake. And let’s not even talk about her last relationship. It’s better of avoiding. When her best friend, heartbroken after another failed relationship, asks for her help on how not to fall in love, Harper makes him a deal. She’ll start dating and prove she can keep her emotions out of it, if she can teach him how to protect his own heart. But as Harper finds herself falling for her new not-her-boyfriend and Theo finds himself inundated with interested girls, Harper discovers love isn’t as easy to figure out as she thought. Especially when the only guy she finds herself thinking about might just be that boy next door after all.
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