Who doesn’t like a cringy love story once in a while? Valentine’s Day is today and Netflix is releasing more bad teen romance movies every week. Even if we all know that they are full of clichés and bad tropes, we can’t help but watch them all, because deep down, we all want the quarterback with the strong jawline to fall in love with us. Am I right, ladies? Anyway, love is in the air right now and you need your dose of romantic content. I got you, boo. Drop the Noah Centineo movies and get yourself one of these five books.
Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet, Collective of fourteen authors
Meet Cute is a collection of fourteen short stories from different genres about young people meeting and falling in love. It’s the perfect book to read if you’re busy but still want some cheesy romance in your life. There is a great variety of characters and good representation of the LGBTQIA+ community. There’s a story for everyone to like or relate to. My two personal favorites are Somewhere That’s Green by Meredith Russo, a story about a trans girl writing a petition for the right to access the women’s bathroom, and The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies, about a school project on the probability of seeing again a cute guy met on the train.
Love & Gelato, Jenna Evans Welch
Travel, family secrets and new friendships
Love & Gelato is about Lina, a seventeen-year-old girl who has to move to Italy after the death of her mother. To help her grief, she is given her mother’s old journal, which is filled with stories of her teenage summer romance with a mysterious stranger. Lina, with the help of her new friend Ren, decides to go on an adventure to find out more about her mom’s secrets. Love & Gelato is a touching story about first loves and the true meaning of family. It will fill your head with warmth, stracciatella gelato, and sunny landscapes.
Carry On, Rainbow Rowell
Boarding school, magic and love-hate relationship
If you like Harry Potter, you will like this book for sure. Carry On was first mentioned in Fan Girl, another of Rowell’s books, as a fanfiction written by the main character. So, it’s purposefully very similar to Harry Potter, telling the story of Simon Snow, the Chosen One of the magical world. Simon is weirdly obsessed and irritated by his vampire roommate Baz, but his hate for him slowly turns into love as the story goes on. If you want a story that has a compelling romance but also focuses on other tropes, this is the right book for you.
The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jenny Han
Beach house, childhood best friends and love triangle
The Summer I Turned Pretty is a very light, fun, and easy book to read, which makes it ideal when midterm season is starting. It tells the story of Belly, who spends every summer at the beach and the love triangle that emerges between her and her childhood friends, Conrad and Jeremiah, who also happen to be brothers. It’s a story of growing up and losing your innocence. Reading this will make you feel young again, full of hope and will help you get through these tough times.
Cinder, Marissa Meyer
Fairy tale, cyborgs and impossible love
The best way to describe Cinder would be if Star Wars and Cinderella had a baby. Cinder is a teenage cyborg living in the post-apocalyptic New Beijing. She falls in love with the human prince Kai but also has to deal with saving Earth and handling Adri, her step-mother. The world of Cinder is captivating and the romance is dreamy. I would definitely recommend reading the entire book series since the universe gains even more depth as it introduces other fairytale characters like Little Red Riding Hood. If you want to procrastinate and escape your midterms, this is your solution.
