While summer may look slightly different this year, we can still enjoy a great coming-of-age sun-soaked story to give us the summer vibes we’ve been missing!
This Is My America, by Kim Johnso
this novel that explores racism in the American justice system, seventeen-year-old Tracy’s dad is an innocent Black man on death row and her brother, a promising track star, is accused of killing a white girl. She attempts to save both of them while their Texas town’s racist history bets against her.
A Song Below Water, Bethany C. Morrow
Bethany C. Morrow’s A Song Below Water is a captivating modern fantasy about black mermaids, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today’s racism and sexism. A must-read for lovers of fantasy and contemporary stories alike.
Tweet Cute, by Emma Lord
This rom-com was made for the Twitter generation! Pepper is the swim team captain, a chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Jack is the class clown and a constant thorn in Pepper’s side. All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.
The Gravity of Us, by Phil Stamper
Debut author Phil Stamper’s romantic tale follows social media journalist Cal as his life is uprooted by his father’s NASA mission to Mars. Desperate for any new information about the astronauts, Cal finds himself thrust in the middle of a media circus. Suddenly his life is more like a reality TV show, with his constantly bickering parents struggling with their roles as the “perfect American family.” And then Cal meets Leon, whose mother is another astronaut on the mission, and he finds himself falling head over heels, and fast.
This Train Is Being Held, by Ismée Williams
When private school student Isabelle Warren first meets Dominican-American Alex Rosario on the 1 train, she remembers his green eyes and gentlemanly behaviour. He remembers her long ballet dancer’s legs and untroubled happiness, something he feels belongs to all rich kids. As the two grow closer in and out of the subway, Isabelle learns of Alex’s father, who is hell-bent on Alex being a contender for the major leagues despite Alex’s desire to go to college and become a poet. Alex learns about Isabelle s Havana-born mother, Eliza, a woman with a prejudice against Latino men, who pressures her daughter to stay away from him. When Isabelle’s father loses his job and her older brother struggles with his mental health, her relationship with Alex falters. But fate and the 1 train throw them together when Isabelle needs him the most.
