POV: You were picturing a spring full of picnics, bike rides and solo reading dates…but with musical rehearsals, AP test prep and the track season picking up, you’ve barely had time to crack a single page. Lucky for you, we’ve rounded up the best books to slip into your busy schedule. They’re fast-paced, easy to digest and won’t end up lying on your nightstand for a whole month untouched.
Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle
If you want contemporary romance without too much emotional baggage (save that for long summer afternoons), you’ll heart this modern DJ love story. It follows Prince, a teen DJ/radio-show host, who makes it his mission to win the romance-skeptic Dani over in just three dates. What starts as fun and flirtatious suddenly becomes all too real as they navigate their growing feelings while dealing with their own lives. This sharp, fast-paced and music-centered story switches between two perspectives and is sure to keep you turning the pages all through the season.
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
Thrillers are the perfect genre to speed up your reading journey. Most of us know Holly Jackson from her A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder era, and now she’s hit us with another, slightly more mature page-turner. In the story, the spunky chronic procrastinator Jet is home for Halloween when she’s attacked by an unseen intruder. The catch? She’s not dead…at least, not until the fatal brain injury will ensue (in exactly seven days). Not wanting to waste the last week of her life, she decides to take matters into her own hands and do what nobody has done before…solve her own murder.
The Rival by Emma Lord
Enemies-to-lovers is tried and true for a reason. For all the overachievers out there, this book is the ultimate blend of academic ambition and electric chemistry. When Sadie gets the only spot at her dream college, she thinks she has finally won the long-standing rivalry between her and her fellow genius next-door neighbor, Seb. But when he is unexpectedly admitted off the waitlist, she finds herself in a totally new competition for a spot on the school’s zine. As the competition grows, so does a connection that they’ve both been trying to deny. When they’re forced to confront flaws in their school, they end up on the same side…and realize what true feelings lie beneath their rivalry.
Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean
Coming of age doesn’t have to be slow and meandering to hit you in the feels. Take this story, for example. It follows seventeen-year-old Emma, who, skeptical after her parents’ divorce, makes a wish at the festival of Tanabata for proof of real, lasting love. The wish comes unexpectedly crashing into her life…in the form of a love letter from the future. Soon, she is forced to confront the reality that these letters are real, and they could be coming from any of the three guys who’ve been in her orbit. In her race to uncover the identity of the letters’ author, she discovers just what love means and how real it can be.
Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed
If you want a book with a deeper, resonant meaning, you’ll be an instant fan of this story about love and politics. When Jamie and Maya are paired together to work for the local state senate candidate (as in, going door-to-door to collect votes), they expect the worst. With Jamie’s shyness and Maya’s general mood (a Ramadan involving a too-busy best friend, canceled trip and parents going through a separation), they don’t expect to make a connection. But as they master local activism, they realize that being together isn’t too bad. In fact, it just might be enough for sparks to start flying.
Check out our bookish Insta @glbestiebookclub for more fun recs!
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