Top 10 YA Contemporary Romances

I've read so many YA contemporary romances in my past that I had to make this list. I cheated a little bit with this one, but I make the rules so I'll let it slide. I also didn't include books that weren't primarily about the romance, so that is why you will not see I'll Give You the Sun on here, it's primarily about siblings.

10. The Catastrophic History of You and Me

The beginning of the story dragged a bit but the love story was so unbelievably epic that I couldn't even doc points for the beginning. I actually cried. Also, I don't actually understand what happened at the very end so if anyone understands what the hell that was please feel free to let me know.

9. Fangirl

My girl Cath and my boy Levi. A nerd's wet dream.

8. Perfect Chemistry

This one is a major throwback. It's everything you want from a YA contemporary. We have two lovers from different sides of the tracks, witty banter, and a hell of a plotline.

7. Dare You To

I've reread this book too many times to count. The series as a whole is good, but this is definitely my favorite of the series. Beth is the best character.

6. Lovely Vicious

This book actually goes by a whole new title now, Love Me Never, and it had all this work done so apparently it's a better book than it was before. However, I haven't read the updated version yet and this is still one of my favorite books to this day.

5. Sea of Tranquility

This book sort of borders between YA and NA, but I'm gonna count it because the characters are still in high school. This is an intense novel with so much shit going on. These characters never stood a chance and yet I think it has the most optimistic ending that would be possible.

4. Paper Princess

This is my latest obsession. The Royals series is one of my favorites ever. After reading all the books several times over I finally decided to buy physical copies.

3. Everything Everything

I didn't realize I could love a book this much. This was the first book since Jandy Nelson's two books that made me smile like a lunatic. 

2. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

I just read this last year and it gave me so many feelings about this book. All of them good. I honestly had nothing bad to say about it and I'm so excited I'm going to see the movie today!

1. Hopeless

I've been reading so many Colleen Hoover books lately that it would feel wrong to not have this at number one. This is by far my favorite of her books even now after almost 6 years. It's full of hope and love and loss and I love that the author canonically exists in her own book. I am also aware that this pushes the boundaries between YA and NA, but once again they're in high school so I'm gonna count it. I am also aware that this isn't how it works but I'm gonna do it anyway.

What are some of your favorite YA Contemporary Romances?

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All the Wrong Chords Spoiler Free Review

All the Wrong Chords
by  Christine Hurley Deriso

Release Date: December 12th, 2017

Synopsis:

Scarlett Stiles is desperate for a change of scenery after her older brother, Liam, dies of a drug overdose. But spending the summer with her grandfather wasn't exactly what she had in mind. Luckily, Scarlett finds something to keep her busy--a local rock band looking for a guitarist. Even though playing guitar has been hard since Liam died, Scarlett can't pass on an opportunity like this, and she can't take her eyes off the band's hot lead singer either. Is real happiness just around the corner? Or will she always be haunted by her brother's death?

My Thoughts:

I received a copy through Netgalley for an honest review

I gave this book 2.5 stars. The first half of the book was really hard for me to get through. I felt no connection to the protagonist and the story felt pretty dry to me. The ending picked it back up a lot but still doesn’t deserve 3 stars. 

The love triangle felt so forced. First, we were introduced to Zach who right off the bat seems pretty cool and we can definitely see him getting with our protagonist. Then all of a sudden Scarlett meets Declan, Zach’s friend, and there are absolutely no sparks or anything to suggest that he and Scarlett should get together. Scarlett doesn’t even seem to be into him all that much until after their meeting when she tells her sister she’s in love. Their entire exchange was just her thinking about how guys always hit on her sister. 

This love triangle was the trigger for me finding the protagonist unbearably annoying. She just got mad at her sister for such stupid things that were not her fault and just overall being a spoiled brat. I don’t respect her as a character much less like her. As anyone who reads books, you know how important liking, or at least respecting, the protagonist is. Without that liking or respect, the story behind it isn’t going to be very good for you no matter how good the plot actually is.

I also felt that the protagonist was incredibly oblivious or just naive. She just goes along with whatever she is told. She gets blown off and she thinks to herself “of, it was just a misunderstanding” and then goes on to believe even more lies. The girl needs to get a clue. She also overreacts. There is a secret she finds out near the end that I won’t talk about because of spoilers, and she just gets so upset that no one told her. I mean I do understand her getting upset about it, but she started bringing up completely irrelevant things to express to these people how much they have wronged her. It was irritating that these people were obviously sorry for not telling her and she just reacted like they were plotting against her or something. 

Overall, not my favorite. I’m also glad I started this book months ago because it took me a while to read. I might suggest this if you don’t mind love triangles or even like them.

Top 10 Twins in Books

I myself am not a twin, but I've always thought having a twin would be pretty cool. If you're identical, you could pretend to be each other, if you got along, you have a built in best friend, you guys have never been without each other, so you have someone to lean on all the time. All in all I think it would be pretty cool. I was just thinking about the topic of twins when I decided to do a top 10 on it because we do see a lot of twins in literature.

10. Sheldon and Dash from the Broken Love Series

These two are brother and sister who always have the others back. They're best friends and love to bicker and they somehow make everything brighter when they are together even if their separate lives can get a bit dark. What makes everything worth while is the fact that you know they will defend each other to the death if they need to.

9. Harper and Cole from Why I Loathe Sterling Lane

While this book is mostly a romance with mystery elements, it's overall a story about a girl who is trying to look out for her twin brother and keep him out of trouble while he is doing his best to keep his troubles a secret from her.

8. Sawyer and Sebastian from the Royals Series

We don't get to see a ton of these characters, but they are really important to our protagonists and hopefully they will one day have their own books. There isn't too much I can say about their closeness without getting into spoilers, but know that they wouldn't be the same without each other.

7. Dean and Lesley from Hopeless

Dean is one of the main characters in Hopeless and while we don't get a lot on his relationship with Les in Hopeless we do delve a lot more into that in Losing Hope. Dean and Lesley are the epitome of functional siblings. At times they would disagree but they would always wanted the best for each other.

6. Cather and Wren from Fangirl

One of the biggest struggles that Cath faces in Fangirl is the fact that her sister is starting to branch off and make other friends. Up until that point they were pretty much inseparable and I feel like they really figured out where they were with each other in the book. They found a balance between what they both wanted from their relationship.

5. Ty and Livy from Lord of Shadows

These two had plans to be Parabatai, that's how serious their bond as siblings went. These two are two parts of a whole, they're just better together.

4. Cersei and Jaime Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire

We may not always like these two, but you have to admit they are pretty iconic.

3. The Shining

Probably the most iconic twins of all time, even Cersei and Jaime can't touch them. If you don't know what I'm talking about then do you even pop culture?

2. Jude and Noah from I'll Give You The Sun

You should have seen this coming. My favorite stand alone of all time, it's about the relationship between these twins and how it has changed throughout the years. Honestly, that's all I can say other than read it. It's a game changer.

1. Fred and George Weasley from Harry Potter

If this came as a surprise to you than this must be your first time reading one of my blog posts. Welcome, I'm Jessie and I love Harry Potter. Fred and George were the older brothers I always wanted. They are fun an mischievous and out to cause chaos. Harry Potter wouldn't be the same without them adding some elements of lightheartedness.

Who are some book twins that you guys think are worthy of the list?


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Just One of the Boys Spoiler Free Review

Just One of the Boys
by Leah and Kate Rooper

Release Date: October 2nd, 2017

Synopsis:

Alice Bell has one goal: to play for the elite junior hockey team the Chicago Falcons. But when she’s passed over at tryouts for being a girl, she’ll do anything to make her dream a reality…even disguising herself as her twin brother. With her amazing skills on the ice, Alice is sure she’ll fit in easily. That is, until she starts falling for one of her teammates…

Hayden Tremblay, star of the Falcons, can’t keep himself out of the penalty box. Constantly living in the shadow of his older brother, Hayden’s losing his passion for hockey. But when he gets shown up on the ice by the Falcons’ new rookie, Hayden’s determined to teach the kid a thing or two. Little does he guess that “Al’s” surprises on the ice are just the beginning... 

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush title proves that wonderful things can happen when you’re brave enough to go after your dream. Dream hockey player, that is! Warning--a few locker room scenes are included... 

My Thoughts:

***I Received an ARC through Netgalley in Exchange for an Honest Review***

I gave this book 4 stars. Many aspects of the story were so well done, I for the most part loved this book, there were a few things I wish we would have gotten into more, but considering this isn't exactly a long book, I can see why we didn't get into those. For what it was it was really good. 

This book was a level of whimsical fun that put me in such a good mood that I didn't even mind that Canadian jokes. Speaking of Canada, it was good to see a book that was actually partially set in a part of Canada other than Ontario. Every time I find a book and I'm like, "Oh it's set in Canada! I should read this! I wonder what part of Canada it's in?" it's almost certainly takes place in Ontario. I like Ontario, but there are other parts of Canada. Just saying.

I'm gonna start off by saying how much I hated Alice's boyfriend Freddy. He was a no good cheater who threatened to out a character for being gay. He was also just a trash human being and I'm glad that Alice dropped him because she was better off without him.

Onto the character that was gay, I won't tell you who it is because that would be a spoiler, so instead I'll just talk around it. I loved how the character was portrayed, they weren't just the token gay character that I hate so much, they actually had a large amount of significance to the plot and in the main characters life. Even though their sexuality was a secret it wasn't that hard for me to figure out. 

This book was no murder mystery, I had no problem whatsoever guessing the outcome and the secret that drove this story. It was nothing new, but still something I could sit down and binge. I read this book in one day, it was a really enjoyable read. I love these contemporaries.

Alice Bell has no time for sexism, if the coach won't let her on the team because she's a girl, she'll pretend to be someone else so that she can play. I admire that. It felt a lot like a cross between She's the Man and The Girl's Got Secrets by Linda Kage. Surprisingly this story didn't give me any second hand embarrassment. I suffer very badly from second hand embarrassment so the fact that I was okay with this one blew my mind a little bit.

I have nothing else to say other than I highly recommend reading this cute funny contemporary romance when it comes out in October! It will put you in a good mood.