Summer Reading for NCCS Upper School Students 2023: Romance

"Six critically acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning authors bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of charming, hilarious, and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light through the dark. Grade 8-12

After picking up a book from the library, Yvette--who has given up on love--gains the ability to see how other people's romantic relationships will end. Grade 7+ (Lexile: 650)

Harlem teenager Nala is looking forward to a summer of movies and ice cream until she falls in love with the very woke Tye and pretends to be a social activist. Grade 7-10

After being dumped at the beginning of freshman year, Iranian-American Parvin Mohammadi sets out to win the ultimate date to Homecoming. Grade 7-10

High school seniors Bàao and Linh, whose feuding families own competing Vietnamese restaurants, conceal their budding romance, as well as Linh's desire to become an artist. Grade 7+ (Lexile: 710)

Eighteen-year-old flamenco dancer Zarela Zalvidar must work with a disgraced dragon hunter to learn the ways of a Dragador and save her ancestral home. Grade 8-12

Gymnast Caroline Kepler has three state balance beam titles, a new trick even most elites can’t do, and chronic, undeniable back pain. While she might never be an Olympian, she has dreams of leveling up to elite, making Nationals, and competing in college. But when one epic face-plant changes all that and Caroline’s back pain goes from chronic to career-ending, her dreams are shattered and her life is flipped upside down. Enter Alex Zavala, a three-sport athlete who’s both incredibly cute and incredibly off-limits. He offers to give Caroline a crash course in all the sports she’s missed, and she has an offer for him in return: For every sport Alex teaches her, she’ll play matchmaker for him. Deal done, Caroline “dates” new sports with Alex for the rest of the summer, which is loads more fun than wallowing in despair. Just as Caroline starts to see herself as more than her past athletic successes, she picks up something she didn’t bargain for: a big fat crush on Alex. Turns out life was way easier when it was just layout-fulls and beam burns.... Grade 7-10

After a mortifying rejection, Sahoko Wakaume has sworn off beautiful boys. But a chance meeting puts her in the sights of gorgeous J-pop star Kouta Kirigaya of the group Like Legend. Sahoko will need all her cynicism to defend herself against Kouta's tenderhearted and affectionate attacks to win her heart! Sahoko tells off the nation's top idol, Kouta, in her family's restaurant for assuming that she's his fan. Instead of being cowed by his mistake, Kouta comes in the following day with albums and VIP tickets to Like Legend's next concert. Can Sahoko withstand his shining onslaught to charm her? Grade 7-12 (Graphic Novel)

Summer vacation quickly becomes complicated for Felicity Becker as she tries to plan a perfect wedding for her mom, figure out her feelings for her friend Nancy, and wonder what dating will look like for her as an asexual person. Grade 8-11

Since her mother's death, Madeline "Gwen" Hathaway has been determined that nothing in her life will change ever again. That's why she keeps extensive lists in journals, has had only one friend since childhood, and looks forward to the monotony of working the ren faire circuit with her father. Until she arrives at her mother's favorite end-of-tour stop to find the faire is under new management and completely changed.

Meeting Arthur, the son of the new owners and an actual lute-playing bard, messes up Maddie's plans even more. For some reason, he wants to be her friend - and ropes her into becoming Princess of the Faire. Now Maddie is overseeing a faire dramatically changed from what her mother loved and going on road trips vastly different from the routine she used to rely on. Worst of all, she's kind of having fun.
Ashley Schumacher's The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway is filled with a wise old magician who sells potion bottles, gallant knights who are afraid of horses and ride camels instead, kings with a fondness for theatrics, a lazy river castle moat with inflatable crocodile floaties, and a plus-sized heroine with a wide open heart... if only she just admits it. Grade 7-10

A romance about teens who devote themselves to granting other people's wishes, but are too afraid to let themselves have their own hearts' desires--each other. Grades 8-12 (Lexile: 850)

Willow and Mason, two teens who are unceremoniously dragged to Salem, Massachusetts for the summer, meet and help each other figure out their places in the world. Grade 7-10 (Lexile: 770)

The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in 1910 Chicago, and the two daughters, Olivia and Helen, are finding their way and finding love--even where they are not supposed to. Grades 7-10

When two masterminds--Mary, the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, and Ada, the daughter of Lord Byron--are brought together by fate, they make a shocking--and magical--discovery that draws the attention of a mad scientist. Grade 8-12

Stella North is one of twelve young pilots competing in a 1937 air race meant to promote peace in Europe, but when one of her competitors is sabotaged, Stella races to determine who is capable of murder, and who might be the next victim. Grade 8-12

Cousins Rose and Cora Seville aren’t your typical eighth graders. They are matchmakers-in-training, learning how to magically make love connections out of San Francisco’s Hotel Coeur, where they live in the penthouse suite. As young Fledglings, Rose and Cora must perfect their charms and enchantments to pass a test that will determine their future, but they are not prepared for all the drama ahead! Confident, cool Rose, the most promising Fledgling of her generation, thinks her magic can help her handle any assignment that’s thrown at her. But when she is faced with a bitter rival and headstrong Kindling, will she be able to rise to the challenge? As for kind-yet-complicated Cora, she’s usually in her cousin’s shadow. But new powers that allow her to see others’ emotions might make her a secret weapon in the matchmaking world. Will Cora’s special abilities help or hurt her when a crush on a boy puts her matchmaker ethics on the line? Full of magic and mishaps, Suitehearts is a new series from award-winning storyteller Claire Kann that will keep readers smiling and wishing for more.Grade 5-8

Told in interconnected stories, three witchy best friends brew a love potion on Halloween that is said to produce a love that will last forever as long as it is sealed by true love's kiss before the stoke of midnight. Grade 8-12

A girl with undocumented family members goes viral after saving her crush’s life in disguise. It’s a classic story: girl meets boy, girl falls for boy, boy finally notices girl when he sees her in a homemade costume. At least, that’s what Sonia Patil is hoping for when she plans to meet her crush at the local comic-con in cosplay. But instead of winning her crush over, Sonia rescues him after he faints into a canal and, suddenly, everything changes. Since she was in disguise, no one knows who the masked do-gooder was . . .but everyone is trying to find out. Sonia can’t let that happen—her sister is undocumented, and the girls have been flying under the radar since their mother was deported back to Mumbai. Sonia finds herself hiding from social media detectives and trying to connect with her crush and his family. But juggling crushes and a secret identity might just take superpowers. Can Sonia hide in plain sight forever? Grade 8-11

When a hurricane exposes Soleida's family's secret sculpture garden, the Cuban government arrests her artist parents, forcing her to escape alone to Central America where she meets Dariel, a Cuban American boy, and together they work to protect the environment and bring attention to the imprisoned artists in Cuba. Grade 7-10 (In Verse)