Embedded Files
YA authors love to write about senior year and the summer before college. Check out the stories featured in these great books--at turns funny, serious, and sometimes dystopian. If you read one you really like, let us know. You could write a review for the MPL website! And don't miss our list of prom-themed books, too!
Top Ten by Katie Cotugno
Top Ten by Katie Cotugno
Prickly, anxious Gabby would rather do literally anything than go to a party. Ultra-popular Ryan is a hockey star who can get any girl he wants-and frequently does.
But somehow their relationship just works; from dorky Monopoly nights to rowdy house parties to the top ten lists they make about everything under the sun.
Now, on the night of high school graduation, everything is suddenly changing-in their lives, and in their relationship.
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
Dill isn't the most popular kid at his rural Tennessee high school. Fortunately, his two fellow misfits and best friends, Travis and Lydia, have his back.
But as they begin their senior year, Dill feels the coils of his future tightening around him. His only escapes are music and his secret feelings for Lydia—neither of which he is brave enough to share. Graduation feels more like an ending to Dill than a beginning. But even before then, he must cope with another ending—one that will rock his life to the core.
Always and Forever Lara Jean by Jenny Han
Always and Forever Lara Jean by Jenny Han
Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter.
But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy, she can't ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter.
When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
In this sequel to the acclaimed Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda we follow Simon's BFF Leah as she grapples with changing friendships, first love, and senior year angst.
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistake.
But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the Wilds who lives under the government's radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he'll have to woo her—he's totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.
Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.
Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
t's time to meet your new roomie.
When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an email to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of emails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer—and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
Emaline is a Colby native, and so summer at the beach for her means hard work and a new population of beach goers. During this, her last summer before college, Emaline meets Theo while working for her family's rental business. He's a city boy who's come to Colby as the assistant to a high-strung documentary filmmaker who's in town to profile a reclusive local artist. Emaline knows he's not her type, but she can't help feeling drawn to him. And as their relationship develops, Emaline finds herself questioning her own goals, values, and choices.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith
On the night before they leave for college, Clare and Aidan only have one thing left to do: figure out whether they should stay together or break up. Over the course of twelve hours, they'll retrace the steps of their relationship, trying to find something in their past that might help them decide what their future should be. The night will lead them to friends and family, familiar landmarks and unexpected places, hard truths and surprising revelations. But as the clock winds down and morning approaches, so does their inevitable goodbye. The question is, will it be goodbye for now or goodbye forever?
I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she's ever worked for is on the line.
Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California's dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.
The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour
The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour
Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she's abandoning their plans - and Colby - to start college in the fall.
But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev's already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what's next?
The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone
The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone
Seventeen-year-old Maddie O'Neill Levine lives a charmed life, and is primed to spend the perfect pre-college summer with her best friends and young-at-heart socialite grandmother (also Maddie's closest confidante), tying up high school loose ends. Maddie's plans change the instant Gram announces that she is terminally ill and has booked the family on a secret "death with dignity" cruise ship so that she can leave the world in her own unconventional way - and give the O'Neill clan an unforgettable summer of dreams-come-true in the process.
The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls by Jessica Spotswood
The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls by Jessica Spotswood
One summer will challenge everything the Garrett sisters thought they knew about themselves—and each other in this captivating new novel by Jessica Spotswood.
As the oldest, Des shoulders a lot of responsibility for her family and their independent bookstore.
Vi has a crush on the girl next door. It makes her happy and nervous, but Cece has a boyfriend...so it's not like her feelings could ever be reciprocated, right?
Kat lands the lead in the community theater's summer play, but the drama spills offstage when her ex and his new girlfriend are cast too.
Bea and her boyfriend are heading off to college together in the fall, just like they planned when they started dating.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life-and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.
99 Days by Katie Cotugno
99 Days by Katie Cotugno
From the acclaimed author of How to Love comes another stunning contemporary novel, perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen.
Molly Barlow is facing one long, hot summer—99 days—with the boy whose heart she broke and the boy she broke it for . . . his brother.
I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowski
I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowski
Sydney has the perfect summer mapped out. She's spending the next four and a half weeks traveling through Europe with her childhood best friend Leela. Their plans include Eiffel Tower selfies, eating cocco gelato, and making out with très hot strangers. But things don't always go according to plans.
I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
Kimi Nakamura loves a good fashion statement.
She's obsessed with transforming everyday ephemera into Kimi Originals. But her mother disapproves. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi's estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life.
When she arrives in Japan, she's met with a culture both familiar and completely foreign to her. She meets Akira, a cute aspiring med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. And what begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.
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