Twelve short stories in verse by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the highs and lows of love–romantic, platonic, familial, and self-love.

Love can be many things–all-consuming, fleeting, vengeful, selfless, toxic, uplifting, and always, a core part of the teen experience that leaves an indelible mark. This enchanting, genre-crossing anthology delivers something for every listener with unique characters, global settings, and a dazzling mixture of myth, historical, speculative, and contemporary fiction.

With each moment, get swept away by unexpected love blooming between two princes from enemy Mesoamerican nations in the 15th century, who'd rather make music rather than war; cheer for a timid bearded lady who was shunned by her family and runs away to find belonging and safety at the circus during the 1800s experience the heartbreak of saying goodbye to a beloved pet; breathlessly watch a myth unfold as a siren bound to the water falls in love with a winged forest spirit, their love seemingly impossible from the start. Root for a girl who emerges from grief and battles with chronic pain to discover how to love herself and life again.

by Jennifer Lee, illus by LeUyen Pham (2026)

Falling in love is supposed to hurt. That’s what Franny and Sam, two cynical teenagers raised on tales of heartbreak and loss, have come to understand. Yet when they fall for each other, they find the reality of love is something else entirely: it’s electrifying, all-encompassing, and easy. Theirs is a love that can conquer anything…perhaps even death.

But Franny and Sam’s quest to stay together―no matter the cost―soon blurs the line between reality and fantasy, and their shared dream threatens to turn into a nightmare.

by Anita Kelly (2025)

“Relaxing” and “getting a tan” may be on most teens’ summer to-do lists, but for chronically freckled and deeply anxious Penny Dexter? Not a chance. Socking money away for college? Of course. Babysitting her siblings? Sure. Becoming a climate scientist and saving the world? She wishes.

At least she can tackle the tuition money with the seasonal gig she landed at Delicious Donuts. But when she finds out that her genderqueer nemesis, Mateo della Penna, will also be working behind the counter, Penny’s summer of mindless labor instantly vanishes before her eyes. Mateo is ridiculous and artsy, and their favorite kind of donut is Boston Crème (gross!). But the duo’s two-and-a-half-year feud will have to take a backseat when the donut shop is threatened by a corporate takeover.

As their small town faces big pressure, and anxiety threatens everything Penny’s worked for, there’s still one person who remains by her side. And though their taste in donuts is questionable, Mateo’s presence manages to keep Penny calm and focused. Could it be that Penny’s found the perfect, most infuriating person to change the world with?

by Farah Heron (2025)

"Sana Merali is a certified hopeless romantic.

It’s inevitable when she literally lives on Love Street, a cute side-street full of mom-and-pop shops and cozy apartments. With her florist mother, her part-time job at a vintage shop, and her adorably curated wardrobe, Sana knows she’s what meet-cutes are made of—and it’s only a matter of time until her own HEA.

When the neighborhood is threatened by new developments, however, her plans for love get pushed to the backburner as she and her neighbors rally to host a festival that will finally put the neighborhood on everyone’s radar. Because what better way to get people to fall in love with Love Street?

Unfortunately, Miles Desai is also on the planning committee. Miles is contrary, judgmental, and…anti-romance. His hard stance on love inspires Sana with another goal for the summer: to matchmake Miles and knock the cynicism right out of him.

But as her set-up for Miles starts to actually work, Sana realizes that happily-ever-afters, for herself and for her street, aren’t that easy to come by."

by Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame Mbalia (2025)

"When Pacy Mercado and Cecil Holloway spot each other during the first week of freshman year, it’s love at first sight. Well, more like love at first fleeting, injury-riddled glance, since the moment is ruined thanks to clumsiness and a criminal case of IBS.

Despite their total lack of game, Pacy and Cecil are drawn to each other. Seven seconds of eye contact turns into days of yearning and stress as they make the mistake of following misguided advice from their friends, dysfunctional families, and strangers on the internet.

But the universe conspires to bring Pacy and Cecil together when they both end up on the WADS committee to plan the freshman dance (that’s Wakeville’s Awesome Décor Society, if you must know).

As they spend more time together, they realize that the other person might be just what they need . . . that is, if they can figure out how to be themselves and embrace the mishaps, mistakes, and hilariously awkward interactions that make up their imperfectly perfect love story."

by Paul Coccia (2025)

Curvaceous, clever, and an avid reader, seventeen-year-old Bobby Ashton never misses a main character moment. So when it comes to asking out his crush, he plans a romantic gesture grand enough to go down in local history. Unfortunately, though, his extensive knowledge of every rom-com trope ever doesn’t prepare him for how tragically he misreads the situation. Suddenly Bobby’s very public romantic gesture turns into an ordeal so embarrassing it could be a villain origin story.

Having masterfully shattered every plan for his perfect summer before college, Bobby’s last resort is working at his uncle’s sleepy bookstore. Soon, Bobby is expertly recommending books for customers to perfectly cure what ails them. Attempting to rebound after a breakup? There’s a book for that. Trying to tame your crochety coworker? There’s a book for that too. Then a plot twist Bobby never saw coming walks through the door in the form of Luke, an unfairly attractive and staunchly anti-romantic lifeguard.

Bobby’s blossoming connection with Luke reminds him of some of his favorite tropes: grumpy-sunshine, quippy banter, and even forced proximity. But after his last romantic disaster, should Bobby use all the tricks in his arsenal to turn Luke’s head? Or is he misreading all the signs again? Do grand gestures really need to be so... grand?

by Allison Ashley (2026)

Growing up, Jessie and Hillary lived for summer, when they’d be reunited at Camp Chickawah. The best friends vowed to become counselors together someday, but they drifted apart after Hillary broke her promise and only Jessie stuck to their plan, working her way up to become the camp director. 

When Jessie learns that the camp will be sold, she decides to plan one last hurrah, inviting past campers—including Hillary—to a nostalgic “adult summer camp” before closing for good. Jessie and Hillary rebuild their friendship as they relive the best time of their lives—only now there are adult beverages, skinny dipping, and romantic entanglements. Straitlaced Hillary agrees to a “no strings attached” summer fling with the camp chef, while outgoing Jessie is drawn to a moody, reclusive writer who’s rented a cabin to work on his novel.

The friends soon realize this doesn’t have to be the last summer. They’ll team up and work together, just like the old days. But if they can’t save their beloved camp, will they be able to take the happiness of this summer away with them?

by Rebecca Bendheim (2026)

Before she moved from Austin to Rhode Island, everybody knew Lacey as one half of an inseparable duo: Lacey-and-Grace, best friends since they were toddlers. Grace and her moms were practically family. But at school, being lumped together with overeager, worm-obsessed, crushes-on-everyone Grace meant Lacey never quite fit in—and that’s why at her new middle school, Lacey plans to reinvent herself. This time, she’s going to be cool. She’s going to be normal.

At first, everything seems to go as planned. Lacey makes new friends right away, she finds a rabbi to help her prepare for the bat mitzvah that got deprioritized by her parents in the chaos of the move, and she even gets cast in the lead role of the eighth-grade musical. Which is when things start to get stressful, because it turns out the students at her new school have a long-standing, unofficial tradition: No matter what the show is, in the final performance, the leads always kiss for real.

Lacey’s never kissed anyone before—she’s not even sure she’s ever had a crush. And in Bye, Bye, Birdie, there are a few different co-lead kiss possibilities for Lacey to choose from. There’s confident, cocky Andre. There’s sweet, friendly Jaden. And then there’s the other new girl at school: dryly funny, impossibly cool Violet.

But while her new friends and older sister create whiteboard wall charts and botched field trip schemes to help her decide, suddenly Lacey can’t stop thinking about Grace, who she was so sure she wanted to leave behind. When Grace comes back into her life, Lacey needs to decide if she's brave enough to be who she really is, in front of the person who matters most.

by Deb Caletti (2026)

When Margaret sees Mars for the first time, it doesn’t feel like love at first sight so much as future at first sight—she just knows right away that he will loom large in her life.

When her job delivering pizzas brings Margaret right to Mars’s doorstep, she can’t deny their connection, even as the anxious voice in her head warns her about everything that could go wrong. Soon they’re giving in to fate as their romance deepens over stargazing and moments under the endless night sky, where Mars shares his passionate interest in the Voyager’s Golden Record—a time capsule of humanity preserved indefinitely in space. Together, they are absorbed by the unknowable questions we all face: How will we be remembered? What will we leave behind? And can anything truly be infinite?

But even for someone who can’t help but anticipate the worst, when the worst actually happens, Margaret is shattered. How can she move forward from tragedy when it feels like the world has stopped spinning? Somehow, she has to let go of the gravity of grief pulling her down and find her way back to the stars. But only if she can let the whole of the universe in—all the beauty and all the pain.